53 year old mother of one, Lynne from Nottinghamshire, was admitted to hospital for relatively routine stomach surgery in late April 2022. She now has no memory of the six week period from mid April to the start of June of the same year, nor of her traumatic experience of sepsis.
Lynne explains what happened.
I had gone into hospital for a relatively routine stomach operation to stop reflux. I was apparently in agony after my operation but it wasn’t until 48 hours later that they became concerned enough to take me back to theatre. There they found that my bowel had been perforated and I later learnt that my body had gone into septic shock.
The perforation caused sepsis and I was put into a coma on the critical care unit for a month. My family told me afterwards that they were devastated at the time. However, when I woke up I started to suffer from delirium and psychosis which is one of the scariest things I have ever been through.
I thought that my family and I had been bombed, that I had got married to an unknown person and that his family were putting dead birds at the end of my bed… Absolutely frightening. Due to a tracheostomy tube that had been inserted, I couldn’t communicate through the psychosis. Fortunately the staff moved me into the only room there with four walls and a door. They were amazing and I’m truly humbled by the fact they worked so hard to save me and keep me safe.
I then went onto a medical ward for a month. I was vomiting so many times a day though that I couldn’t count them. I had lost all of my muscle mass due to being in the CCU for a month and could not move as a result. Learning to eat, sit and walk again was one of the biggest fights of my life. The fear is tremendous and the belief I would never walk again was so real. After that month I was able to walk with a frame, which I came home with on the 30th June 2022.
I wasn’t aware that I had had sepsis until I saw it marked on my discharge notes.
My dad lived a few miles away but at 85 it had nearly killed him looking after my child and dog so I wanted him to rest. I came home with only my daughter, who was 17 at the time, to look after me. That afternoon I had to climb two lots of stairs to get to bed. This took nearly an hour of tears, frustration and downright determination. The stairs remained a nightmare for at least 6 weeks.
There were so many tears and also nightmares, and depression set in. I forced myself to walk and could do so eventually unaided but I was still not confident by the beginning of September. By the end of October I had regained enough confidence to walk around.
Unfortunately after sepsis I suffered from an unexpected side-effect in that I started losing my hair. I lost half of it in the end but it is now starting to grow back.
Without the support of my friends and family, especially the love and support of my daughter, I would not be here. I’ve started PTSD counselling. The nightmares, flashbacks and depression are still there but hopefully the counselling will help, along with the medication the GP has prescribed. Joint pains, especially in my shoulders, are still very painful. I am grateful that I did not lose any limbs or my life though. This is a long road and I’m not anywhere near the end. I am still not sure whether I might have symptoms of what is sometimes called Post Sepsis Syndrome.
I’m determined to take things day by day and move forwards though and hope that my story reaches people and helps to raise awareness, including amongst medical professionals. And if you have been through sepsis walk along with me and keep fighting. We can do this!
Sepsis kills around 50,000 adults and children every year in the UK
Please, please be aware of sepsis symptoms:
In adults
and in children:
